Paradise has a lot of bugs.

I'm in Mazunte, a very quiet beachfront town on Oaxaca's Pacific coast. Before this I spent two days in Zipolite, a very quiet beachfront town on Oaxaca's Pacific coast. I like it here.

This shit is real rural. Pickup trucks are the local public transportation system. I saw a herd of small goats being followed by a man on horseback block traffic on the highway. Every other person seems to be carrying a machete, which strikes me as particularly funny and scary when it's an elderly woman wielding one. What's really interesting about this is that tourism is this town's main industry. The rural/tourist combination produces some weird results.

My hotel room in Zipolite was a raised hut on the beach whose staff was a large matriarchal family, who were much more interested in their livestock than their guests. The hut seemed to be in constant danger of collapsing, it shook with the wind, its floor sloped randomly, and its stairs were set at wild angles. However, the view from the hammock hung up on the front porch was wild. Huge waves crashed onto gorgeous rock formations, daredevil kids bogeyboarding in spite of the fierce currents and undertow. And a million elderly, Dutch penises shuffled along the beach. Unknown to me before checking in here, Zipolite is one of Mexico's very few, maybe only, nude beaches. The fella in the hut next to mine wore nothing but a ridiculous knit hat the entire time I was there. Our very few, brief conversations were much more awkward for me than for him.

I later saw knit hat guy succesfully chat up one of the few naked young women on the beach. They went off and had a drink together. This was wild fucking weird for me. To begin the courtship process already naked struck me as hilarious and confusing.

Actually the naked guy bit wasn't too bad, as the beach was really sparsely populated. Tourist season just ended, apparently. I mostly had my chunk all to myself, and I was happy to ADD out, staring at the waves from my hammock.

I've sinced moved to nearby Mazunte, another beautiful beach and quiet, tourism-centered town. I'm staying in a cool little hostel in the jungle. Last night, late, as I was throwing on a shirt and pants to go to the bathroom, I saw a scorpion ambling my way. He seemed more curious than hostile, but I still didn't feel bad about beating him to death with my shoe. I started to walk outside to the bathroom, barefoot, before pausing and asking myself why in hell what had just happened didn't make me feel a need to put on my shoes. I put them on.

Today I ate what may have been the best enchiladas of my life, at least a close competitor to Cafe Tacuba in DF. What really made them, besides the beautiful home-made sauce, was the quesillo, Oaxaca's string cheese. This stuff is amazing. I already discussed it in my last post, but it merits mentioning again. God bless you, Oaxaca, and your wonderful cheese.

Also, fuck you Oaxaca, and your Micheladas. And fuck you, Mallika Bhandarkar for suggesting I try them. A michelada is beer poured over ice, lemon, salt, and a spicy sauce. I thought, hey, I like all those ingredients, I'm sure I'll like them altogether. Besides, Mallika said they're great. No. They're fucking awful. The texture is like milk gone bad, and it tastes like diluted hot sauce. As an Irishman, I consider it a mortal sin not to drink a beer I asked for, but a few obligatory sips were as far as I could go. So, hey, Bhandarkar, you owe me a beer when I get back.

And yes, an appeal- If you're thinking about a Mexican by the beach sort of vacation, please really consider Mazunte, or Zipolite if you feel like getting naked in public. The beach is gorgeous, the people are warm and inviting, the food is great, and the prices are cheap. If you feel like spending a few more pesos than I have, you can get a really plush, scorpion free bungalow on the beach. The important thing is that, besides you getting a much more interesting experience than a package to Cancun, all your money goes directly to the families working and living here, as opposed to the big foreign owned hotels and resorts that pay their employees dirt wages. And this place really is paradise.